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(as someone who didn’t really ship Byler until season 5 but then looked at all the evidence people had come up with a was like damn that’s really good/compelling/interesting)

The following rant of all my possible personal biases went on way longer than intended continue reading the original point of this post at the red text: (still like mileven though wish they got more screen time in s5, but am 100% pro a single Eleven because I don’t think her only freedom in life should be in a relationship (which she’s been in since she didn’t even know what she liked to wear). I want her to discover herself without pressure or emotional drain or insecurity (like in season 4 during the whole “you don’t love me anymore” and “you think I’m a monster” convo) caused by her relationship and if Jancy was going to breakup Mileven should have as well if they are using the whole trauma bonded, love each other but hurt each other/struggle to understand each other anymore kind of way (I also think if mileven had broken up then El would still be alive not for writing reasons just character reasons it would have been a better representation of her freedom and journey to self discovery and as much as I hate stereotypes the whole “if you love someone let them go and if they come back to you they’re yours and if they don’t they never were” thing)))

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Is the fact that Will, Mike, and El could never all exist together in relationships (platonic or romantic) without struggles (specifically caused by Mike) Correct me if I’m wrong (if I am factually wrong anywhere in the post please correct me, I am writing this from memory) but in season 1, Will was stuck in the upside down and in this time El became the mage (as opposed to the cleric) and grew close with Mike. In season 2 El is gone and we finally get to see the dynamics of the Mike and Will “best friendship” we had heard about in season 1, and it was lovely, their relationship, much like El and Mike’s relationship in season 1 was different from their other friendships (not a more powerful form of love or anything (yet) but Mike’s treatment of El and Will is just clearly different).

Then in season 3 we finally get to see all of them together and that is when the relationship issues between Byler and Mileven start onscreen. Will and Mike’s friendship falls apart (The “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls” argument was actually devastating to me as a young queer kid who learned about that part of myself from Robin and Will in this show) and Mike and El’s relationship falls apart (which you can argue is mainly because of Hopper but I argue is mainly because in both of these relationships Mike has started masking his emotions and forgotten how to communicate properly (getting defensive and hurting the people he cares about)).

Skip forward to season 4 (because those plotlines (specifically Mike and Will’s was forgotten after the monsters showed up again whereas Mike and El’s relationship issues were made an issue of the entire group after the “Because I love her and I can’t live without her” declaration (oh foreshadowing my cruel mistress)) in season 4 we learn Will likes Mike but Mike was the one pushing Will away in season 4 and in this season (wth was that awkward hug my biggest Byler proof is that change in behavior). Also I have never seen any of these characters more miserable (in a plot line not about sci-Fi monsters trying to kill them) than at the dinner table right before Mike said his “she didn’t look fine” comment or in the car on the way back from the roller rink everyone was miserable.

(Side note about the queer rep of Will in season 4 before I rant about season 5 got to the next red text again: Why was Mike pushing Will away? Why dude? and then why is Will the one who has to shove his feelings down to build up a straight relationship like I’ve seen this before in movies and shows with queer characters and I’m sick of it, but what is worse is I can see it being in character because Will just wants both the people he loves to be happy and unlike Mike he can actually demonstrate his feelings through his art (the painting) instead of bottling them all up (so now Mike has a beautiful example of what he assumes is El’s love and faith in him (because he is oblivious) and this strengthens their relationship with a lie and gets mike to buck-up and says he loves El) as he admitted to in season 5. Anyway, this is just me hating that plot line. I want to say that I get it, but I don’t, Will wasn’t acting weird because of his romantic feelings for Mike he was okay (not really, hence the crying in the van because not only can he not tell his bff that he loves him and has to building up his relationship with someone else but because he is in love with his bff he can’t even tell him he is gay leaving Will almost completely alone except for Jonathan (I love Jonathan)), but he would be okay if they just stopped the unrequited queer crush stereotype right there but they dragged it into season 5 like a corpse on a leash dead before it even got there man), Mike was acting weird and needed to grow on his own (fix them insecurities) to fix his relationship with El, BUT also this is debatably the most best friend they’ve acted in awhile at least in TV best friend terms (Tv besties talk about crushes and relationship issues, but then again Mike and Will never have on screen before about their own relationships they talked about Max joining the party in s2 because Lucas and Dustin had crushes in her and Mike didn’t want anyone else in the party, and…I don’t remember but I thought there was something else…OH they talked about El briefly in season 2 also, when Mike was mentioning her wistfully right before the “crazy together” convo. Remember? Will was like no one understands and Mike said Eleven would’ve(because he wanted to share this amazing person he met with another amazing person he know because he believes they would truly understand each other), referencing his special relationship with El to Will) Jesus this went on way to long and became a rant within a rant)

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Onto season 5 Mike and El are apart for a majority of VOL.1 which was when Byler got pretty popular because that relationship thrived while El was gone we got season 2 dynamics! We got Mike being a great friend inspiring Will with his powers, standing up (along with the rest of the party) to Dustin’s bullies, having a deep conversation with his sister. Very “The Heart” behavior. Then VOL. 2 ngl they don’t really focus on either of those relationships as much as they should have, especially not to set up a beautiful final reunion final goodbye between Mike and El or a heart to heart on the tower after the coming out scene with Mike and Will (not that the duffers planned to write that scene anyway but don’t even get me started on that otherwise this post may never end). Then the finale I honestly think they fumbled both relationships but that is mainly a personal opinion, but I do think it is undeniably true they did not spend enough time with these 3 characters and their dynamics with each other.

I’m not saying this to prove either ship is undeniably cannon or to tell anyone who to ship. Do what you want. I’m just saying I think the biggest thing that allows Byler shippers to ship it and truly believe it could be cannon, and have so much evidence in subtext, and lighting, and indirect storytelling, as well as character dynamics and all the things that make a show into something as great as ST has been, that drew people in back in S1, is just the fact that Mike as a character and his relationships with El and Will never really existed at the same time very well so it is easy to build up both relationships.

Overall S1 and S2 Mike I miss you. You were a great friend to El and Will and I actually believed you would be a great boyfriend to El but then you got all weird. And I really want to feel bad about saying that because he clearly has major trauma and is repressing his emotions to seem brave to those around him (Mike the Brave), but I was talking to someone about how I didn’t like Mike anymore even though he was my favorite character in s1 and 2 (Mike, El, and Will are my favorite characters overall) and they said “God forbid anyone make mistakes” and I was like a character can absolutely make mistakes and a real person can do what Mike did and never truly recover those relationships but this is a TV show and the Mike and El and Mike and Will (and El and Will (not that Mike ever got in the way of my trauma siblings <3)) relationships were the center of the show and driving points to Mike’s character so his character just seems like a writing fail and it makes me sad. (These gifs are the ones that showed up when I searched Stranger Things and Mileven respectively I didn’t really think about the placement but it is nearly five am and I need to be done)